Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
It's cold and rainy in Cleveland with a chance of snow (!), but the Yanks aren't scheduled to return there this season, so they'll likely make every attempt to get the game in, much like they did on their final day in Chicago, when rain twice interrupted the game and ended Phil Hughes night after just two innings.
Mike Mussina will be the man contending with the elements tonight. Moose is coming off the gem he twirled against the Chisox when he had unusually good movement on his non-curve pitches. He and the Yankee hitters will be facing 23-year-old lefty groundballer Aaron Laffey. Laffey was reliably average in his nine starts for the Tribe as a rookie last year. He lasted five or more innings in all but one start (and four innings in the exception) and allowed no more than four runs in any of those five-plus-inning starts (he allowed five runs in the four-inning outing). Tonight will be his first time facing the Yankees.
Laffey is the third of five lefty starters the Yankees are facing in a six-day span. In the first two of those games, Joe Girardi has radically rearranged his lineup, leaving some of his best hitters on the bench, and received four runs of total offense as a result. Resting Bobby Abreu I understand, as Abreu's the one left-handed Yankee hitter who really struggles against his own kind. Using the opposing lefty as an excuse to rest the struggling Robinson Cano I also understand. Sitting Hideki Matsui for two straight days just because there's a lefty on the mound I do not understand.
Prior to sitting out the last two games, Matsui was riding a seven-game hitting streak during which he had hit .318/.516/.500. On his career, Matsui has hit a respectable .293/.359/.448 against lefties. He is 0 for 9 with a walk in his career against C.C. Sabathia, so I understand Giardi's reasoning for sitting Matsui yesterday, but if that was the plan, he should have started Hideki on Saturday. Tonight, Matsui's back in the lineup, but Johnny Damon is sitting out. Damon is hitting .433/.485/.800 over his last seven games with two homers and five doubles. On his career, Damon has hit .286/.349/.404 against lefties. Against lefties the last two days he's gone 5 for 9 with two of those doubles. I just don't understand resting the team's hottest hitter when the offense has sputtered for three straight days.
Shelley Duncan and Morgan Ensberg combined to reach base once in 12 plate appearances over the last two games. Duncan, who was the guy who got on base, sits tonight. Ensberg plays third as Girardi uses the DH to protect Alex Rodriguez's tender quad.
Catcher Chris Stewart arrives from Scranton to take Jorge Posada's spot on the roster tonight. A career .253/.314/.361 hitter in the minors, Stewart is your typical generic backup catcher. A big fella, the 6-foot-4 Stewart is a 26-year-old career minor leaguer who spent most of his career in the White Sox's system after being drafted by Chicago in the middle rounds of the 2001 draft. After hitting .264/.314/.393 in his first full year at triple-A in 2006, he was traded to the Rangers and actually opened the season as the back-up on the major league roster. He hit .243/.300/.297 in 17 games (11 starts) before the Rangers bought Adam Melhuse from the A's in early June and optioned Stewart to triple-A, where he remained for the rest of the season, hitting a similar .242/.294/.333. In 15 games for Scranton this year, Stewart has hit .300/.404/.375, walking seven times against just one strikeout.
At this point, 30 days seems doable. I mean, thats 16% of the season... a good chunk but not horrible. It could be a lot worse, yes?
So... how 'educated' a guess is 30 days?
Yahoo's forcast for Cleveland:
Tonight: Cloudy with a few showers. Snow may mix in late. Low 38F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Tonight of all nights (just because of my mood) I really want to just sit down and watch a baseball game, no questions asked.
Hmph.
Has anyone put a claim on Moeller? I can imagine the Red Sox doing that just to screw with the Yankees.
Please, please, please let's see to it he scores.
Don't strike out, Alex, please.
Is it that hard to score a run?
Good rip, Jason.
Did you see that 0-2?
Terrible location.
He's lucky it was just fouled off.
Beautiful curve!
Nice job, Mike!
Nice pitching.
I am not sure what's behind this trend, but Girardi and Long must emphasize the patient apporach that has fueled this offense in the past.
Let's get Mike some runs, how 'bout?
I'd rather have Joba, but there are a number of guys with 'no' fastball who are league average or better.
Also, with CC throwing 8, the bullpen is ready to cover 4+ innings. The Yankees should have put some crooked numbers up against Laffey, but instead are relying on Moose to be perfect. Should he give up 3 runs in 6, everyone will lament his performance, but the reality is the Yankees should be able to win this game (and a few others earlier in the year) going away.
Suck it up, Mike!
Just make the play.
0-2.
Nice, Mike!!!
Nice!!
Come on, Mike!
Wasn't Derek listening when ARod said he would have an MVP year?
Get him out of there. Two plays in this inning that he actually made and still my heart nearly stopped.
It's stressful watching him out there, almost as bad as Knoblauch used to be.
Very nice job by Moose that inning.
I noticed the Mariners put Bronson Sardinha on the suspected list, then released him. Did they just not need an outfielder in their minor league system, or does being put on the suspended list mean he did something bad?
Beautiful foul out to the catcher on the first pitch!
Way to swing, sticks!
Somehow I'm able to get both ESPN and YES coverage of tonight's game.
Hmmm, let's see if we might get a hit.
The Yanks have lots of trouble with them.
Did you see that swing by Hideki?
I swear, these are the things that drive me to distraction.
If there were a bridge handy, I might jump off it.
Why did he hook that ball?
Why?
Why?????
Is there some law I'm unaware of?
Nice swing.
He waited on it and slapped it to right field.
That's how you hit a baseball.
What a joke of a baseball team.
Talk about dodging a bullet.
Two runs, I'll take it.
It would be nice to score a run or two of our own, however.
Hell... put Bonds at first.
Now how about a couple of runs here.
I'll take it.
Melke hit
Jeter hit
Abreu hit
AROD HBP
Giambi RBI
Matsui RBI
Ensberg hit RBI
What a team...INSPIRING!
It's these kinds of innings the Yanks have been lacking though - they've been unable to "kill 'em softly". Maybe the luck will start to turn around the solid team peripherals will start to show up in the RS totals.
Sung to the Macarena song, of course.
Jeeze, that sounds stupid even in Cleveland.
WTF???
BTW - calling Alex's bomb.
I'm starting to feel like a broken record with this wide strike zone stuff.
Michaels taketh and giveth away.
283 Yes. I also wish Joba would bust out the curve . . .
Nastier.
Nastiest!
Just wanted to let you know
280 Agreed. I also thought Moose was fine for another inning. Good Moose is better then anyone in the pen aside from JoMo. Until Phil and IPK can be counted on for 6 or 7 IP, we should be conserving the BP whenever possible.
Using 5 pitchers for a game we will by 3?
The fact that Oakland and Anaheim have the most wins in the A.L. at 16, and the Yankees have 14, is simply astounding. The amount of shite this team has endured in the first month, and the fact we are where we are, cannot be understated.
Good night all.
299 Worrying about tomorrow, tomorrow is what leads to Ross Ohlendorf pitching late in a tie game.
14-13 record.
Only 1 game out of the division lead.
1.5 games ahead of Cleveland.
2.5 games ahead of Detroit.
If Indeed we are to fight Boston, Cleveland and Detroit for 3 PS spots, we are really in better shape then most of us anticipated. No?
OTOH - I'm not giving up on Girardi yet. Small sample size caveats apply to managers too. He sat Mo in a tie game on the road the first time he faced that situation. What happens if he bring Mo in next time? Is he a genius?
Let's see what he does over the course of the year before we judge him too harshly, or too hastily.
Nice win tonight.
High praise indeed!
It's better to gice Joba and Mo an inning each than to try to have two 2 inning closers.
If he keeps his current INN pace until July (85 games), he would have 37 INN. If he started in the rotation on July 1 (game 86), h would get 15 or 16 starts. To reach 135 INN, he would need to pitch 98 INN in those starts, or 6.1 to 6.5 INN/start. Do we really think that he will average over 6 INN/start? And everything that I have read assumes they want his limit to be closer to 140 or 145 INN.
If they want to stretch him this year, they have to start getting him more innings soon, or they will be more or less in the same boat again next year.
I say that by the end of this year -- assuming it appears the Yanks are headed to the playoffs you only want him to have a maximum of 130 innings. However, if the Yanks are going to miss the playoffs, then let's stretch him out to 146.
Regardless, we don't need him getting too many innings. By the way, if he stretches in the minors those innings count too.
Of course they do, but they don't help the big club. I'd rather stretch him by extending the innings in his relief appearance with the Yankees than farm him out for three weeks of starting for Scranton.
"ASSUMING the Yanks make the playoffs you don't want him to already be at 150 innings..."
That's the million dollar question. My approach is:
1. Do not assume to make the PS, and play your pitchers accordingly. Then
2. If it looks like you can make the PS comfortably, you worry about cutting innings later in the season (this is what the team did with Pettitte in '95, when he threw only a couple of INN in his last start).
3. If you are not sure that you can make the PS without him pitching his normal load, then you might as well keep using him right up to the innings limit--it does no good to save him for the PS you won't get to. And
4. If you squeak into the PS and he has used up his INN, you play it by ear. Maybe he goes into the PS as the #4 starter, and gets only one or two starts for 10 extra innings. Maybe you use him as a reliever for one INN here and there. or maybe you shut him down.
So overall, my philosophy is that there is no use saving a player for play offs that may never come, and if you do get to the playoffs, you re-evaluate the short term goal (winning in the PS) v. the long term goals (player development, injury risk management, etc.).
He increased his innings from 108 to 158 (+40, maybe a bit high). He pitched in relief 27 times fro about 58 INN, or a little over 2 INN/appearance. He started 18 times for about 100 INN, or a little over 5 INN/start. He had only 7 appearances of 1 or fewer innings.
Look, if he went from 116 to 133 that's not going to be the end of the world. He can pitch 165 next season and increase to 200 by 2010 assuming he stays healthy. 30 innings isn't the optimum, it's simply the max.
And I just don't see any reason to pitch him 2 innings against the tribe tonight. It's not a valid point.
I agree with you to a degree, but we differ in philosophy. I would not have pitched him at all tonight, and used Britton instead. But if he is to come in the game, in my scheme he would do the Santana 2003 thing and pitch 2 INN most every time out, regardless of score.
I am also concerned that these one inning gigs only encourage him to rely on his fastball and slider, and not to develop his secondary pitches.
Good point about him missing time in OK; that has artificially suppressed his INN total so far.
Ridiculous.
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